A 35-year-old killed when he was struck by an SUV in St. Paul Wednesday was a 3M engineer with an adventurous spirit that led him on bicycling trips to exotic places.

After Wednesday’s crash that killed Scott Allen Spoo, police arrested a 60-year-old driver, whom officers suspected of being under the influence and possibly on his phone. Peter Holmes Berge has been a lawyer in Minnesota for more than 30 years.

Scott Spoo, 35, was killed when he was struck by a vehicle while running in St. Paul on Feb. 22, 2017. (Courtesy photo)

Spoo, of St. Paul, was in the crosswalk on Mississippi River Boulevard at Dayton Avenue while out for a run at about 4:30 p.m. when police say he was struck by the sport-utility vehicle Berge was driving. Spoo was pronounced dead at the scene.

Berge, of St. Paul, was booked into the Ramsey County jail on suspicion of criminal vehicle operation. He has not been charged and declined to comment.

Witnesses told police the driver may have been on his phone at the time of the crash, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.

Officers also believed Berge was “under the influence of something” based on their observations at the scene and his performance on sobriety tests, according to Linders.

Police continue to investigate the crash, which occurred about an hour and 20 minutes before sunset. Spoo was the first pedestrian to be killed in a crash in St. Paul this year.

Peter Holmes Berge

Spoo was a quiet man who people were drawn to, said his sister, Holly Spoo. He loved traveling and spending time in nature.

She suggested her brother was out enjoying the mild weather Wednesday when he was struck.

“I think it’s an unnecessary, sad thing that happened, and Scott’s not the only one it has happened to or will probably, unfortunately, happen to,” she said. “I hope something good can come out of it.”

Scott Spoo grew up in Deer Park, Wis., and graduated from New Richmond High School in 2000. He went to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point for a year before heading to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He earned his master’s in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2015.

Spoo worked for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and was hired at 3M about 11 years ago, where he was a senior product development engineer in the stationery and office supplies division. In a statement, officials with 3M said his co-workers were “deeply saddened” by his death.

Scott Spoo, an avid bicyclist and runner, bikes in The Brewery Vivant Farmhand Fat Bike Race in Michigan in 2015. (Courtesy of Robert Meendering Photography)

Spoo often participated in mountain bike races, such as ones that Penn Cycle holds at Buck Hill each week and The Almanzo 100, a 100-mile gravel bicycle race in Spring Valley, Minn.

He traveled to Canada for a bike race and mountain biked in New Zealand, his sister said. Last year, Spoo headed to the Grand Canyon for a rim-to-rim excursion and, in another trip, biked and camped along the California coast.

Closer to home, Spoo was always finding a reason to be on a bike — he probably had at least seven different kinds, Holly Spoo said. On Easter, he biked from his home to his aunt and uncle’s home outside Baldwin, Wis., which is about 40 miles east of St. Paul.

“He would figure out routes to get there and bike out there to the middle of nowhere just to do it,” said Holly Spoo. “Any excuse to be outside, he was doing that. … Just loving life.”

Friends of Spoo’s are feeling awful about his death, said Joel Benton, who knew him from the Twin Cities mountain biking community.

“This can happen to anyone, any time,” Benton said in a message. “All of us know it can happen, just don’t want to think about it.”

Spoo’s mother said her son was safety conscious and always aware of his surroundings when he was biking or running.

Mara Gottfried has been a Pioneer Press reporter since 2001, mostly covering public safety. Gottfried lived in St. Paul as a young child and returned to the Twin Cities after graduating from the University of Maryland. You can reach her at 651-228-5262.

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